Multitasking
by Moiranne Rose
Summary: Challenge fic: The many talents of a well-trained Turk. I guess it is ambiguous whether it's slash or not. It is if you want it to be.


It had been a long day.

An excruciatingly long day. His back was in knots and not to mention his head was reeling with multiple headaches. All he wanted to do was to drag his sorry ass back to his room and settle down for some good old rest. Some real rest, not the pill-induced ones. Yet there was everything against him having a good night's sleep. Everything except a small bottle of pills prescribed by Hojo. He had long put his sleeplessness behind him, often relaxed in the embrace of dreamless sleep. But there were times when he wanted to reach for his humanity, when he was willing to bear the pain of nightmares if it meant that he could be human for those few hours of sleep he had every night. But tonight, even after the successful elimination of threats posed by a small time resistance group, he still needed to write his report, and then drag his sorry ass to sleep.

He hadn't counted on Reno being up and about in the office at this ungodly hour though. The Turk was bent over something at his table, thumb moving in tiny circles as he hummed some tune he'd heard somewhere before. Two snaking white wires connected to a pair of earplugs which were jammed in his ears, effectively blocking out any sound that was present in the silent room. Then, smiling satisfied to himself, went back to his computer screen and continued typing almost ferociously at the keyboard, still unknowing of his superior's presence. Behind him, he could see Reno typing away at some document on his previous mission. Surprise Surprise, Reno actually did do the work he had said was done by Rude. An even bigger surprise. Reno's hair was down.

Sensing the shadow that had fallen over his workspace, Reno abruptly turned and immediately cursed, as one earplug dislodged itself from his ear and dangled from the table. He reached for the mp3 player, paused the song and then looked back up, characteristic grin on his face. Tseng had no time for cocky subordinates who stayed up late at night doing work while multitasking with songs blasting into his head. How did anyone survive that load? Seriously, couldn't people just focus on what they needed to do, and then have time for brainwashing entertainment afterwards. To pile horror on horrors he saw that the drawer that was open in the cabinet to the left of Reno was safely stocked with bags of potato chips and one half-eaten chocolate bar. Now his headache was really getting to him.

"Hey boss! What brings you here?" Reno's voice betrayed no shock at all, just his usual cheery upbeat self. Tseng nearly had to cradle his head in his hands. This was too much new information at a go. Sure, he could handle fifteen different operatives telling him fifteen different coordinates and still be able to move his helicopter to the precise intersection of all fifteen places, but he could not handle a colleague, much less Reno, 1) doing his work for once, 2) listening to music while doing so, 3) having his hair down against the rules, 4) being up at this hour, 5) managing to sneak food right under his superior's nose and 6) being able to do 4 things at once, while being acutely aware of anything around him, despite the music that could probably burst a normal human's eardrums. No way, this was not Reno. He must be some clone. Some freakish clone. He just managed to stutter a reply.

"Just back from a mission." He managed that much, since he _was _the fantastic leader of the Turks, epitome of rules and regulations, cold and commanding Tseng. Reno quirked his eyebrow at his superior, but said nothing. It was obvious Reno had just looked right through that glassy facade that would have fooled anyone else. He turned back around to his work and plugged in his earplugs, shutting out the noise in the rest of the room immediately. Tseng sensed that the brief exchange had ended and proceeded to his table after grabbing a cup of coffee and a painkiller for the migraine that was threatening to do his head in. The lack of sleep coupled with the strain of back to back missions was really taking its toll on him.

He bent over his report sheet. His mind whirring, remembering the events of that day's missions. Immediately, his pen was scribbling away, almost frantically taking down notes on the events of the three missions individually. He would edit them and rewrite the whole thing tomorrow, but he did need to write down the various happenings so he wouldn't forget them the next day. His hand, accustomed to writing at a speed that would make the Devil curse, was flying over the page now. He remembered what had been said, who had said it, what the surroundings were like when that person said whatever he did. His finely tuned senses could have listened to a man say hello from half a mile away and still remember that there was a bedsheet billowing slightly to the north-east side of him, about 10 metres away, and remember that the wind was blowing from the north side of the mountains to the south. He would even remember how there were three mountain goats on the side of the mountain, two facing him and the other facing the rapidly rising sun at the break of dawn. All this seen through semi-lit conditions.

Now he really needed a break. His hand was tired, his rough draft of his report done, and he had about 4 hours of sleep if he took the pills now and got his tired-out body to bed now. He nodded a goodbye to Reno, before swooping out of the door again, popping two aspirins into his mouth and making his way back to his quarters. As silently as he had come.

Successfully leaving Reno to close up the office. And silently laugh in his wake.

* * *

The night's sleep, however short, had made his headache go away. At least, his head didn't feel like it was splitting apart by the seams. As he changed into his neatly pressed blue suit, he surveyed himself critically in the mirror. His hair was immaculately tied into its customary ponytail and his mako eyes showed no sign of the lack of sleep he had gotten the night before. Sometimes, he was very thankful for mako and what it brought. As he left his quarters, he heard his PHS ring. as per normal. Picking it up, he heard the cool, crisp voice of President ShinRa himself.

"Yes President?" His tone betrayed nothing, the perfect sign of a well-trained Turk.

"I need you to take one of your subordinates and head down here as soon as possible. I'll give you till 08 00 hours to get down here. Rufus will be going to survey the new reactor in my stead and he will need bodyguards-" a short pause, and then "-I'm counting on you." Then the abrupt click as the President put down the phone.

He sighed, looking up at the clock in the corridor, 07 30 hours already. If he went to the office now, ten to one there would be only Elena there. She was still in training and he was uncomfortable working with her since he had yet to learn of her strengths and weaknesses through training. She had only been with them for a couple of weeks, fresh out of training school, so he was unsure about her capabilities as of present. But then again, he would have to make do. He knew that Rude had been posted to Banora to scout for promising SOLDIER operatives, and Reno was probably not up at the moment, so he would have to make do. Pushing open the door to the office, he had the biggest shock of his life. Well, not counting that time that he'd been discovered snooping in Verdot's old quarters for his legendary tea leaves, said to have 4 times the normal caffeine, but this was pretty shocking indeed.

The sight that greeted him was that of a red-haired form, slumped over his table, head buried in his hands while peacefully sleeping. Apparently, Reno hadn't even been able to get his ass into bed before he had fallen into sleep's clutches. His mp3 player was still in his ears and evidently still playing, since he could faintly make out some music coming from the tiny earplug, not quite so securely stuck in his ear. His hair was still out of his ponytail, but had remained in its relatively neat mop. His computer was still on and in standby mode, since he had probably had been working when he fell asleep.

With no one else in the office, he had to settle for Reno as his companion to babysit Rufus. Even when he was already fifteen, it was still considered babysitting, since he pretty much acted like a baby. But he had no time to think about baby-like superiors. Now, the problem at hand would be to get Reno up, cleaned up, properly reprimanded for sleeping while working, and shuttled off to the President's office in the next 24 minutes and 35 seconds. Counting the fors and againsts in this argument, he settled on the conclusion that he would get this done on time. Anyway, Tseng, being Tseng could always get things done on time. He had no time for subordinates who had no sense of decorum in the office.

He walked up to his table, behind Reno's sleeping form, getting ready to pour the half cup of now cold and disgusting decaf coffee all over his head. After debating back and forth, Reno could wash it off after he was awake. But as he stood next to his body, he could see two things. Whatever he was working on last night, and what song his player was playing. "Bleeding Love"...that didn't sound like Reno at all, it was too much angst for him. But the document shocked him more. He had never thought of Reno as a Literature freak. But then again, as last night had proven, he relly didn't know Reno that well at all. It was a poem:

_**Reading between the Lines**  
_

_When you tell me  
humans are weak  
We must be strong  
What you mean is  
stop letting your emotions  
dictate your actions._

_When you tell me,  
be more alert,  
danger is imminent  
What you mean is  
you numbskull  
pull yourself together._

_When you tell me,  
before I go for a mission,  
take care  
What you mean is  
take care of whatever charge is in your hands  
And I'm counting on you._

_When you tell me,  
I'm sorry for your loss  
he was my friend too  
What you mean is  
get over it,  
we have no time or energy to cry._

_But I wish you'd tell me,  
you love me,  
and that you don't want to leave  
even if what you mean is  
for the time being,  
it's useful to love you.  
_

_  
Then,  
why should I believe you then?  
Because, for that one time,  
I'd hope upon hope that  
I was wrong._

**(short A/N: this poem was written by me for this purpose)  
**

He was almost shocked, almost. But no Turk fully lost it. What was it saying? Did this mean something, or was it just random thoughts? He had always felt different around the mischievous redhead but he never knew if this was true to the green-eyed sleeper in front of him. He couldn't understand his feelings now. Was the poem even directed at him? He felt this urge to think so, like he wanted it to be. His feelings were running away from him. He almost had to smack himself to get them back in shape.

His head reeled, and his cup of long forgotten decaf fell from his hand. It hit the ground, splashing brown liquid all over the carpet. Shoot, he swore inwardly, he would have to clean that up. But the slight movement had woken Reno already. His green eyes opened almost like a cat's, blinking to accustom themselves to the light change. He suddenly became aware of the presence behind him. In an almost deja-vu fashion, he turned immediately, while his hand reached for the pause button on his mp3. Looking at his superior, he was acutely aware of what he had done. His half-formed grin faded and he bowed his head apologetically.

"Sorry boss, it's just that without Rude to help, I gotta do the reports since they're due today. I got carried away and umm...fell asleep. I don't drink coffee like you do you know, and my tea leaves just finished. Won't happen again." Abrupt and to the point, however, instead of the customary smirk or grin that accompanied it, it was a yawn quickly covered by his hand.

Then he moved to tie his hair up again, cursing slightly as the hair refused to straighten itself enough to be tied properly. Finally he managed to terminate the messy red hair into an acceptable ponytail. Then, Tseng nodded slightly and reminded him evenly about their appointment at 08 00 hours with the President. He was treated to a string of swear words and a few directed at the President, Rufus, and Rude for not being there. Reno did tend to do that sometimes. He got up abruptly. Then passed out of the room to go back to his quarters.

Leaving Tseng behind to ponder. And think about the poem that was still displayed on the computer.

* * *

A/N: Abrupt end right? But I thought this was just an origin story. about how they feel about each other. the poem WAS written by me, and you can check it up, and so THERE. I'm pretty good at this poetry thing, my teachers like them... Anyways, review please, and tell me how I'm doing with this.

Moiranne Rose


End file.
